p2pnet - rss feed: Wi-Fi and p2p
By Thomas Mennecke Slyck
WI-FI (Wireless Fidelity) ?hot spots? have been springing into action across metropolitan areas in the United States. Places like New York City, Long Island, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, are seeing the availability of hundreds of hot spots.
If you live outside an urban area, chances are you have little opportunity to explore the wireless world. Even if you do live in a city where hot spots may on be a few blocks away away, once you move away from the signal (hot spot) you won’t be able to connect to the wireless network.
Hot spots are the coverage area of a WI-FI access point. An access point is where an individual connects to a LAN, then off to the Internet. The typical range of an access point is around 900 feet outdoors, while around 300 feet indoors. Of course this can be expanded using antennas and amplifiers.
The whole network operates using Radio Frequency (RF) communications, so its behavior is similar to cellular phones, Ham Radios, etc. Depending on the bandwidth size, Wi-FI uses either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz on the radio frequency spectrum. Since it operates at such a high frequency, it is able to penetrate walls, ceilings, and so on. Its range is limited by the output power of the access point.
However, antennas and amplifiers only go so far. In order to create a large network so others can participate on a wider scale, you need the necessary infrastructure; such as repeaters. Repeaters (like mobile phone cells) take the signal, boost the power up, and resend it. To say the least, this can get expensive. So why not put P2P to use?
This is where GREEN Packet’s SONbuddy comes into play. Lets say you’re buddy is just underneath an access point in Ditmars Park in Queens, NY, and wants to send a file to your location in downtown Astoria. Instead of relying on repeaters, others running SONbuddy P2P software create a network where your signal is able to hop from user to user until it reaches your intended receiver. This also allows individuals who simply want to surf the web to connect while being far removed from a repeater or access point. Instead of connecting to a repeater or access point, you connect to a peer on the network.
While this isn’t an endorsement of SONbuddy ($49), the concept is very interesting.
Surely, free and open source versions will be developed. Although the concept doesn?t eliminate the need for network infrastructure, it will certainly drive the costs of maintaining a network way down.
